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Fish for the city: meta-analysis of archaeological cod remains and the growth of London's northern trade

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2015

David C. Orton ,
James Morris ,
Alison Locker  and
James H. Barrett
David C. Orton
Affiliation:
Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31–34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY, UK (Email: d.orton@ucl.ac.uk)
James Morris
Affiliation:
School of Forensic and Investigative Sciences, University of Central Lancashire, J.B. Firth Building, Preston, Lancashire PR1 2HE, UK (Email: jmorris9@uclan.ac.uk) Museum of London Archaeology, Mortimer Wheeler House, 46 Eagle Wharf Road, London N1 7ED, UK
Alison Locker
Affiliation:
Escaldes-Engordany, Andorra (Email: galocker@andorra.ad)
James H. Barrett
Affiliation:
McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3ER, UK (Email: jhb41@cam.ac.uk)
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Abstract

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The growth of medieval cities in Northern Europe placed new demands on food supply, and led to the import of fish from increasingly distant fishing grounds. Quantitative analysis of cod remains from London provides revealing insight into the changing patterns of supply that can be related to known historical events and circumstances. In particular it identifies a marked increase in imported cod from the thirteenth century AD. That trend continued into the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, after a short downturn, perhaps attributable to the impact of the Black Death, in the mid fourteenth century. The detailed pattern of fluctuating abundance illustrates the potential of archaeological information that is now available from the high-quality urban excavations conducted in London and similar centres during recent decades.

Keywords

Londonmarine fisheriescodzooarchaeologymeta-analysisFish Event Horizonstable isotopesmedieval trade
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 88 , Issue 340 , 01 June 2014 , pp. 516 - 530
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
The online version of this article is published within an Open Access environment subject to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution licence <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/>.
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. The online version of this article is published within an Open Access environment subject to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution licence <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/>;.

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